Mandible
by Prodigal The Son
Summary: They call him a monster, but they're the ones who oppress him. Mandible has long been cast away from his people, long tried to find something for himself, something special - a haven. And, by some twist of fate, may he find one here? Or will he still be shunned by those unlike him? (Remake of "Mandible - Earth")


**AN - Hey, guys! Here it is, the remake I announced. Like I said, this remake will be different, but still roughly the same. It will feature new plot points, a different prelude (which you're about to read) as well as more detail and development. Also, don't get attached to these two vehicons. They're more like extras than characters.**

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**Prelude**

"_Remind me again, Tako, why did I join the 'cons?"_ Yet another question blared over Tako's radio. But, of course, he couldn't just ignore it. He was talking to James after all.

"You didn't join. We're drones, remember?" He corrected his partner. Of course, they did have designated numbers, but they'd taken names to give themselves a sense of independence, as well as keep their hope of actually earning a name in the future alive.

"_Oh, yeah... Well, remind me how we got this scrappy detail."_ James asked him. Apparently just wanting to hear Tako re-explain to him how they ended up doing patrolling scans over the humans' "Congolian forests".

"Because you praised Steve's opinions." Steve seemed to have this liking for the Decepticon second-in-command, Starscream. Said Decepticon was definitely inching closer to the edge of Megatron's tolerance. Given how many failures he'd presented to their leader, it's a miracle that Megatron hasn't just blown his head off. Although, he did get the occasional beating.

That said, one could only wonder why some of the vehicons, mainly Steve, thought so highly of him.

"_Come on, Starscream's had some good ideas!"_ James moaned over the radio.

"Yeah? Name three." Tako ordered him as they banked left over the forest. It was quite the pleasure to fly, and, even if they were drones, they were still seekers. All seekers had a natural desire for freedom of the sky, so you don't want to know what would happen if you locked one up for too long.

"_Uh... Well, he DID find that big energon mine after Megatron went on that trip in space. And he-"_ At this point, something popped up on Tako's scanning systems. An energon signature, one not far from their current location. James must have seen it too. Because he shifted his topic of discussion immediately. _"You see that?"_

"I sure do. Wanna check it out?" Tako asked him.

"_Well, we can't _not_ check it out, can we?"_ James replied with something smart for a change. _"Let's head down."_ He added. Without anymore talk between, them, they swept down toward the jungle. Right before breaking the canopy, they transformed, bringing out some blasters and landing in graceful crouches.

"It's coming from this direction." Tako pointed in the directions they started in.

"Think it's Autobots?"

"That's the most likely possibility, but then again, it could be a stray. The Pit, it could even be a neutral." Tako answered James. They continued in the direction of the signal, cutting through tree branches with their claws. It went like this for a good few minutes, until they saw some interesting signs.

James was the first to notice, as he pointed out marks on the trees. Large cuts through the barks, seemingly made by claws. Then, as they progressed, they found some trees completely cut in half., and even a few burned by something. "I don't like this..." He informed Tako.

"Neither do I, but we've got a job. Hey, maybe this is the 'bots trying to intimidate us." Tako proposed.

"You mean like a scare tactic?" James asked.

"Something like that." They didn't get to continue talking much longer as they came across something much more disturbing. I big... tunnel in the ground. A path seemingly dug out of it.

"It's a hole." James declared, earning a whack over the head from Tako.

"It's not a hole, junkface; it's a tunnel." He pointed out.

"'Junkface'? We look the same, stupid!" The vehicon retorted. "And if it's a tunnel, then who dug it?" he asked his partner. Tako inched closer to the edge, leaning over slightly. It was about as wide as they were tall, maybe a bit over that.

"There's only one way to find out!" He concluded, turning back to James. He stared at him, and, eventually, he got the memo.

"You're going down there?" Or not.

"No, _you're_ going down there." Tako replied to him, and before James could argue, Tako pushed him down the hole.

He tumbled over, dust getting into his gears and vents. It was so dizzying, in fact, he thought he banged his head a couple of times, but it was too quick to tell. When he eventually came to a stop flat on his face in complete darkness, Tako's laughter echoing down the shaft, he shook his head in an attempt to put his brain back in the right place. And his tank. And his optics. Yeah, the optics were behind a visor, but that didn't help a 50 ft rolling drop.

Once James' head was the right way round, he stood up and immediately banged his head on the low ceiling of the tunnel. He moved back a little into the light cast by the long hole above him. "You think that's funny?!" He called up to his "partner" in rage. " I'll get you for this!" His calls echoed to the top, as did Tako's reply.

"No you won't!"

"Yes I will!"

"Won't!"

"Will!"

"Won't!"

"WIIIIILLLLLLL!" Yeah, they argued for quite a time.

"Just check out the tunnel!" Tako ordered James, who looked back at the darkness which was only partly illuminated by the light from his optics.

"I'm not going in there!" James declared.

"Yeah, you're going in there alright!" Tako said, making Tako growl as he pointed his blaster to light up the tunnel a little more.

"I'm going in..." With that, he started walking, keeping his head low to avoid another dent in it. If James had to say it, he'd admit he was terrified. Imagine it, alone in the dark, underground, not knowing what lies ahead.

"Fear of the unknown, right?" He said to himself. Remembering recent events to calm his mind. Breakdown had lost one of his optics to humans, much to the mech's embarrassment and humiliation, and clearly Megatron was more than disappointed. Still, he hadn't failed any specific mission, just lost an energon signature that would have been of little difference in comparison to their supplies. More so, he'd failed himself than anything else.

Despite his current position, James couldn't help but laugh at what happened when Breakdown faced Megatron. The poor mech nearly lost his _other_ eye. Fortunately, Breakdown wasn't Megatron's favourite punching bag, and the warlord had been in a... reasonable mood.

James was drawn from his thoughts when he spotted something peculiar with his light. Something strange was covering the wall, something mechanical, but nothing he'd ever seen before. When he touched it he realised it was definitely hard, and artificial in some way.

He continued down the tunnel, finding the walls covered in more of the strange metal construct. The tunnel began to branch off, left or right. Without real need, he chose the right path. I mean, the path on the right side, not saying it was the right way to go.

The stuff - for lack of a batter term - on the walls seemed to get thicker, there was more of it. Occasionally, liquid could be seen trickling down from small orifices in the material. He reached a hand out toward the liquid, but before James could gather anything more about his surroundings, a low growling sounded from behind him...

He turned, and before he could get a clear look at what was growling, it grabbed him by the neck and pushed him into the ceiling while simultaneously gripped his blaster arm and pulled with unnatural strength...

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Tako couldn't even comprehend the scream that he heard. It was one of immeasurable pain, and nigh-busted his audials, but it definitely belonged to James.

"James?!" He called down into the hole, the shout's echo being nothing compared to that of the scream. "James! This better not be some trick!" His call earned no answer. James was known for his occasional fooling around, but he never made a scream like that.

"James!?" Again, no answer was heard. Tako began to hesitate as he leaned over the hole to jump in. Should he go in? Should he inform lord Megatron? If he did, what if this turned out to be a trick? He'd get more than lone patrol duty for wasting their leaders time. He almost didn't hear that faint clicking sound coming from the hole.

Once he realised what he was hearing, he pointed his gun at the hole. Half-expecting something to jump out and pounce on him, he was more than terrified when James' broken, energon-covered, torn up, one-armed body jumped out and landed on his face.

No words could be used to describe the fear-born feeling in his chest as he lay there paralysed by shock and awe. When he finally came to , he scrambled out from the cover of his dead partner, and looked back at the hole. That growl was gone, yet he was still filled with horror as he leaned forward. "This is for you, buddy." He said, and went to jump in.

The last thing he saw was a large, clawed hand pulling him in by the face...

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**AN - "Audial" Is what I make to be an abbreviation of "Audio Receptor". It's my little, technical term I came up with off the line.**

**SO! What do you think of this little Prelude? Tell me your thoughts on my decision, and what you think of this. Question: Should I leave the old one up or remove it?  
**

**I am the Prodigal, until next time, Hasta la Vista.**


End file.
